Help removing child freewheel & chainstays bent on same bike - advice?

[jimster99]

I would like to request some advice from the ever-generous guys and gals on this wonderful forum. My younger son (4) has just started riding his big brother's single-gear bike which has been in storage for several years. He loves it, but there are two issues:

Issue 1: I noticed that the chainstays are quite bent (presumably from being in storage, or possibly from one of the MANY accidents the bike has had). My son can ride the bike fine so the alignment is presumably OK for him. Can I just let him keep using it until he upgrades to his next bike in a few months? Or is there something I can do to improve it? I don't think chainstays can be easily bent back out again, although it's a tiny bike so perhaps I could just brute force it?

Issue 2: The freewheel keeps jamming (so the pedals turn when he's trying to coast). Presumably the bearings need oiling (or replacement). I wanted to get the freewheel off, clean it out with WD40 and try to oil it up again. However, I can't identify how to get it off
the bike, and I don't think any of my tools fit. See pictures. It has a few random holes and splines. Any advice on how to solve this? Can I clean and oil it somehow on the bike? Or can I fettle the freewheel off somehow? And what kind of oil? Just bog standard 5 in 1? I've read that grease is a bad idea. I also have various generic spray oils (like graphite, silicon etc)..

As it's a kid's bike that will only be used for a few months I don't want to buy a bunch of bespoke tools I'll never use again but I would like to make it OK for him to ride.

Thanks so much

[jimster99]

Photos of Bent chainstays:

[jimster99]

Impossible to Remove Freewheel

My bike tool set:

Bonus Photo of Bike In Action

[Cyclothesist]

You can likely bend the dropouts nearer to where they should be using a large adjustable wrench and judicious force. Just ensure you brace the chainstays so you're not bending the wrong bit. If it's working fine though it's probably not worth the risk of breaking something.

The freewheel looks like it comes off by unscrewing the lockring seen inside the rear sprocket. It has 2 pits that a toothed tool fits into. In the absence of such a tool a hammer and punch could be substituted. Before doing that I'd try flooding the tiny gap between the lockring and the sprocket with a light oil with the wheel out and on it's side to enlist the help of gravity. I'd do this several times ideally until oil starts to come out on the other side. That might avoid the need to open it up which given its rusty appearance may be fraught.

[Jdsk]

You can likely bend the dropouts nearer to where they should be using a large adjustable wrench and judicious force. Just ensure you brace the chainstays so you're not bending the wrong bit. If it's working fine though it's probably not worth the risk of breaking something.
...

Agreed. If the alignment's OK and everything's working then I'd leave them alone.

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

...
My younger son (4) has just started riding his big brother's single-gear bike which has been in storage for several years. He loves it...

Sounds great.

Do you already know about the Islabike progression? I've found most of ours preloved on Gumtree. And they're not making any more.

Jonathan

[531colin]

First approach; like the man says, flood it with oil in the gap where it freewheels.
3 in 1 or whatever comes to hand…. Thin it with white spirit if you have got some, keep it off the tyre.
Google “ park tool freewheel removal” ….. close to the centre there may be 2 cutouts where a freewheel tool fits.
I would give it a day or 3 with the oil … unscrewing freewheels is a bit hit and miss, but taking them to bits is the pits. …. There’s an engineering term “ping flip it” …. and you just know there are 2 “. Ping flip it’s” in there, because there are probably 2 pawls and associated springs just waiting to fire tiny ball bearings under the workbench

If you want th straighten the dropouts I would use 2 adjustable spanner’s on one dropout; one to hold the bit you don’t want to bend, and one to straighten the bent bit .
If you really want to.

[rjb]

Freewheel. In the first instance try dribbling some oil into it to see if it improves. If you do need to remove it you may have to dismantle it in situ on the wheel. The centre cone is probably a left hand thread so use a hammer and punch to tap it clockwise. When it comes free carefully remove it and lift the sprocket off. Do this over a bowl to catch the ball bearings. Some have lots others have a few miserly ones with a wire spacer. Some have none at all. When the sprocket is off you can use a pair of stilsons or a vice to remove the freewheel body which has a normal right hand thread. Good luck.

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[jimster99]

Thanks all for the excellent suggestions. I've dribbled oil into the freewheel and hopefully that'll sort it although I did notice it has sideways play which seems slightly ominous. I'll leave the chain-stays well alone.

Re: Islabikes, yes I know of them (and actually own one)!

PS Also learnt a new word - stillson! - from this thread. Thanks! I thought they were just a type of adjustable wrench!

[Kings]

Hi. Avoid WD, it leaves a sticky deposit, and if the oil hasn't worked try Penetrating oil. You can get it in a spray can with a spray tube. It is what is used to free up gummed up mechanisms and also to free up rusted nuts/bolts etc.

[hamster]

It looks like one of the super-cheap freewheels with no removal dogs for a tool. You have to undo the lockring (usually clockwise!) then the whole ting will come apart in an avalanche of ball bearings and springs. Chuck it all away and you will be left with a screw-on collar on the hub - remove that with a pipe wrench and you will be ready to fit a new one.

[Brucey]

the usual cause for freewheel removal is replacement and the usual cause of replacement is wear in the sprocket. However your sprocket is not worn, ergo you probably don't really need to take it off.

The other posters are quite correct the freewheel lockring does unscrew on a lh thread. btw if you can be bothered to make one (eg. via welding) freewheels like these can always be removed without damage using a special tool. Commonly a bit of a clean-up, a re-shim, and maybe some fresh balls is all that is required to restore normal function inside.

Fixing freewheels wouldn't normally be my first choice, but here the sprocket is pretty much unworn and it looks like you are going to have to take it all apart anyway, so it seems almost rude not to at least try.

btw if the frame is steel I would certainly try to straighten it.